Painful Period Vs Broken Bone

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I have recently broken my 5th metatarsel in my foot by falling off a pair of high heels sideways suddenly. I was a little tipsy at the time and although it hurt quite badly , not knowing it was broken I continued to party with a pair of flatter shoes. Two days later I went to hospital as I couldn't move my toes and they told me I had a spiral fracture that had twisted even more where I had continued to walk on it. The doctor said it must be very painful. It is very painful, but not moreso than the period pain I have suffered from since I was a teen.

When I have complained to doctors in the past that I am in AGONY with periods (I feel sick and like I am going to pass out, I cannot think straight, or talk or move) doctors have said I must have a low pain threshold, as they have not been able to find anything wrong bar PCOS.

However this no longer rings true, as I would rather have the pain of a broken bone than the agony of a period, but I have never had a broken bone before , so all I could compare period pain to was childbirth before, and it's always going to be less painful than that.

So my question really is - has anyone broken a bone or similar and how does it compare to period pain for you?

my daughter with autism screams with her period pain and really suffers with it but when she broke her arm she did not scream so much, so I presume from that, that her period pain is more painful than breaking a bone. Interestingly all the NTs we know were very sympathetic about her arm but are not about her periods or her sensory problems (which are worse for her than the periods even). So I think there is a large element of what is socially appropriate to be sympathetic for rather than what is actually worse.

For about 1 - 2 days out of my period it's worse. Sometimes I can't even move out of bed. D:
But for the rest of the time, it's not painful at all.

Not necessarily. Not all childbirths are hideously painful and I remember a London radio presenter saying that her births were "less painful than the average period". The man who was to present the next show then said that his wife had said exactly the same.

So, one can expect that some women have periods that are more painful than a broken bone, particularly if they have complications like PCOS or endometriosis.

i think it is hard to compare, as we all have different amounts of perceived pain from different events. my periods are not too bad at all. so breaking a fingertip was excruciating in comparison, as was childbirth. to be fair, delivering my child took 45 hours (i didn't dilate properly and had a cervical lip) and i cracked my tailbone.

Thanks guys, interesting what other people think. I suppose it all depends on the person. I just wish my periods weren't so damn painful lol.

How do people with severe menstruation pains do anything? I can't imagine one being able to hold a job if it were like breaking a bone once a month in your working career.

I'm a bit confused how periods can even be painful... isn't it just discharged blood and such? Is the pain from hormones? Psychological?

I've had a broken rib (could actually feel the broken ends slide over each other) and it was less painful than some of my periods.

I haven't ever broken a bone.

But, I know that my periods can sometimes be more painful than running a half-marathon.
I remember one time, I thought I had a kidney stone, it was really just my period. The only way I have found to get rid of the pain (or lessen it), is to load up on ibuprofen a=the moment you know it has started, drink a lot of water, and lay in bed. (Oh, and the harder you are working out, the less your period will be. I had one year in track that I missed a few periods because I was running so hard).

Last edited by chrissyrun on 27 Nov 2010, 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

cramps. i imagine it's like labor pain only instead of giving birth to a baby your body is pushing the blood out.

i have broken a bone and it is much worse. i sometimes consider going to the emergency room. it is like the worst pain imaginable combined with severe nausea and i shake like with a fever. on a 1-10 severity scale an easy 9-10. it feels like my body is trying to kill itself. i'm not sure how to express what it actually feels like without seeming melodramatic. it feels like something is very wrong.

i take painkillers for three days straight, but if i sleep through a dose i am in trouble.

i must have endometriosis or something. i have never had this checked out. it can't be normal. but also i assume it's partly due to being hypersensitive to certain types of pain.

I haven't broken a bone that I know of (but I suspect I had a broken bone in my foot due to horse stepping on it), so I don't know what a broken bone feels like.

I can say that before I had the operation to help clean up the Endometriosis, my periods were way more painful than giving birth. Every month at period time (which lasted 10 days) I was in so much pain I could not walk, if I had to get out of bed I had to crawl. Painkillers did nothing. Also in the middle of the month at ovulation time I'd get pain for a week, but not as bad.

I strongly recommend going to a gynaecologist if you are having bad period pain, because it helped me so much.

did you get low back pain during ovulation? i've been getting that and it's either on one side or the other.

i am going to see someone about it. i must either have endometriosis or fibroids or ovarian cysts.

it's really hard to determine what is a realistic amount of pain to expect from something, and how bad it hurts vs. hypersensitivity to it .. for example i can't tell the difference between a small meaningless toothache and a cavity rotting out half my tooth. i can't tell when something is really wrong. and i sometimes don't feel pain until i already know i should be in pain if that makes sense. i can't trust my body's interpretation of what's occurring at all.

I often miss periods due to being so lean. I don't know my exact body fat level but last reading was 16% and I was pretty sedentary at the time, so it's probably lower again as I work out a fair bit.

Yes I got lower back pain for menstruation and ovulation. I had ovarian cysts and scarring from the endometriosis around my ovaries which was causing trouble because my inside bits were stuck together
Definitely go see someone to get it treated. Even though it's embarrassing to have your female parts open for inspection, just keep thinking the doctor has seen plenty of women's bits and a vagina is nothing new to them

yuck.

what do they do about endometriosis, if that's what it turns out to be?

They're sympathetic for what they can see, feel and understand.
They can't see period pain, and they can't see sensory problems. They can't see aspergers.

But they are sympathetic to anything they can see. If your daughter go really bad bruising or something from the pain (no idea whether thats possible) people would give more sympathy.